With its companion, a suitable introduction to the puzzles found in dentist-office magazines, with the same short-term...
A busy book tests the patience of young children who are just learning to read pictures.
Each double-page spread focuses on a vehicle type: flying machines, cars, farm equipment, bikes, and so on. But there’s something odd in each category. Is that wheel made of a lemon and that one a pizza? Actually, yes. Leading questions are posed on each spread. Side-by-side scenes of emergency equipment and boats seem identical, but readers are invited to look more closely to find 10 differences. A bit of information, often without any picture clue, is included on each spread. For example, a sentence about horses and carriages runs across the bottom of the car spread, but there are no horses or carriages shown. Instead, the rather arbitrary instructions are to “spot three squirrels” and “count ten trees.” An answer key on the final spread may allay the frustration of both child and adult readers. Animals, published simultaneously, uses a similar format with beasts from different biomes. The subtle differences will challenge the board-book set, so they are best studied with a helpful adult or older sibling. Older children may be put off by the board pages and will easily remember the answers.
With its companion, a suitable introduction to the puzzles found in dentist-office magazines, with the same short-term appeal. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4654-5620-5
Page Count: 16
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
Grown-ups be warned: Young fingers will delight in pressing the tractor’s buttons (and yours!) over and over.
Little ones can explore a day in the life of a rubber-covered, audio-enabled tractor.
The “5 noisy parts!” promised on the cover are powered by a battery embedded in the back of the book, the compartment securely screwed shut. Youngsters are prompted by the text to press various parts of the tractor to make interesting sound effects, such as an engine starting then chugging, a horn, and tire noise on muddy or rocky terrain. A large, tractor-shaped die-cut hole in every page allows children to access the vehicle on every double-page spread but leaves the left-hand pages dominated by that tractor-shaped hole. Farm animals make their signature sounds via speech bubble (horses, chicks, and cows, to name a few) along with other critters offering suggestions about which buttons on the tractor to press. For additional play value, a ladybug and a caterpillar can be spotted on every double-page spread. Labels for most of the animals appear in a clear font along with other farm-centric vocabulary words: pitchfork, seedlings, trough. Elliott’s art is busy, but the simple, eye-catching patterns and graphically clean lines in bright colors will appeal to the audience. While this offering is perfect for toddlers, the extensive warnings in the fine print on the back of the book about what may happen if the button battery is swallowed should scare adults into being vigilant. Thankfully, there is an on/off switch allowing for toggling between a quiet and noisy reading experience.
Grown-ups be warned: Young fingers will delight in pressing the tractor’s buttons (and yours!) over and over. (Novelty board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68010-669-5
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
A natural for group storytimes, though plenty of single tots will enjoy seeing Tom’s seemingly quotidian world suddenly...
Barton (My Car, 2001; My Bus, 2014) wheels out another conveyance—but sends this one rolling past a set of escalating surprises to a high-wire climax.
Following introductions and a view of his bicycle with its major parts labeled, Tom climbs aboard and pedals off “to work.” He sets up expectations of a perfectly ordinary ride by passing predictable parades of trucks, then buses, then cars and finally “lots of people.” These are knocked askew as successive page turns show him going on to pass…monkeys, then acrobats, then caged tigers and lions. His commute finishing at a tent, Tom then steps inside to don a loudly decorated “uniform,” paint his face with clown makeup, climb a ladder and go “to work // on my unicycle. / Look! No hands!” Rendered in saturated colors with thick, slightly wobbly digital strokes, the illustrations are characteristically simple enough to decipher easily either close up or at a distance. Lines of equally legible text are printed in a bold sans serif, split into short phrases and printed against sharply contrasting backgrounds.
A natural for group storytimes, though plenty of single tots will enjoy seeing Tom’s seemingly quotidian world suddenly transformed. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-233699-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
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